Keen's Mustard Powder and Keen's Traditionaw Curry Powder are fwavouring products produced in Austrawia. The Keen's brand has a wong history and remains a common item in kitchens droughout Austrawia. The brand is particuwarwy weww known for its distinctive yewwow and orange tins.

Keen's Mustard Powder is composed of finewy crushed mustard seeds and is sowd in 60g or 120g tins.[1]

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Keen's Mustard has a history extending back to de 18f century. The first mustard factory in London was opened by Messrs Keen & Sons at Garwick Hiww in 1742, and in de 1890s de chimes of de Royaw Exchange, set to de weww known song 'The Roast Beef of Owd Engwand', couwd be heard, during a wuww in de traffic, at Keen's factory. Part of de factory was seawed off for manufacture of washing bwue, because everyding, incwuding de workers, bore a shade of bwue. Mustard tins too were made, and dere was a penny tin packing room.[3]

Thomas Keen was born in Camberweww, souf London, in 1801, but de famiwy subseqwentwy moved to Croydon, Surrey, and ran de 311-acre Wewcomes Farm at nearby Couwsdon. In 1825 Thomas married Harriett Touwmin, whose famiwy wived at The Ewms, 61 High Street, and de coupwe moved in 1831.[3]

In 1862, Thomas Keen died on 17 February at de age of 61. In dat same year, Keen & Sons amawgamated wif Robinson & Bewviwwe, manufacturers of patented groats and barwey, to become Keen Robinson & Company. In 1903, Keen Robinson & Company was acqwired by J & J Cowman, de mustard producer based in Norwich. Cowman's merged wif Reckitt & Sons in 1938, becoming Reckitt & Cowman.

In de 1930s, de Keen's Mustard Cwub was created. Members received a Mustard Cwub Badge in de shape of a mustard pot and a bookwet entitwed "Inner Secrets of de Mustard Cwub".

In de 1940s, de versatiwity of mustard was promoted wif de formuwa for a mustard footbaf appearing on de back of Keen's tins: "one of mustard, two of fwour, weave it on for hawf an hour.

In 1995, Uniwever purchased de food side of Reckitt & Cowman, uh-hah-hah-hah. Reckitt & Cowman retained de Cowman part of its name and continued to make mustard – de famous American mustard cawwed French's. Outside of de UK, in pwaces such as Canada and Austrawia, Cowman's stiww sewws its mustard under de Keen's name.

In 1998, Keen's Mustard was bought by McCormick Foods Austrawia. Keen's asked Austrawians to search deir homes for nostawgic Keen's memorabiwia. The search uncovered historic advertisements and even an originaw mustard powder tin dating back to 1904. In 2000, Keen's Mustard took de memorabiwia on tour to share wif de rest of Austrawia.

In 1841, 22-year-owd carpenter Joseph Keen saiwed to Austrawia from Britain wif his new wife, Johanna. Fowwowing Johanna's deaf in Sydney in 1843, Joseph weft for Van Diemen's Land. There he met and married Annie (Nancy) Burrows and dey had 16 chiwdren – nine daughters and seven sons. Joseph and Annie settwed at Browns River, Kingston, souf of Hobart, where dey estabwished a bakery, smaww manufacturing outwet and a generaw store. Here Joseph produced and sowd his own sauces and condiments incwuding his own bwend of curry powder.

Widin a decade, Joseph's curry powder was known droughout de cowony and his produce was winning awards: he received a medaw for his spice mix at de 1866 Inter-Cowoniaw Exhibition in Mewbourne and an honourabwe mention for his spicy sauce at de 1879 Sydney Internationaw Exhibition, uh-hah-hah-hah.

In 1915, after bof Joseph and Annie had died, de coupwe's sixf daughter Louisa and her husband Horace Watson took over de famiwy’s curry-powder business. Horace was reported to be a cowourfuw character, and daringwy transformed wand at de foodiwws of Mount Wewwington, overwooking Hobart, into a warge advertising sign: using heavy stones painted white, he formed de words 'Keen's Curry' in wetters 15 metres high. Pubwic uproar resuwted, but Horace won de right to use de wand as an advertising sign, uh-hah-hah-hah.

In a university prank in 1926, de wetters briefwy read 'Heww's Curse', and students awtered it again in 1962 to promote a deatre production, uh-hah-hah-hah. In 1994 de wandmark read 'No Cabwe Car' as a protest against a proposed devewopment. However de sign has been restored after every change.

Whiwe weww known in Tasmania, Keen's Curry Powder began to receive nationaw attention in 1954 when de formuwa and rights were sowd to Reckitt & Cowman Austrawia Ltd (currentwy, Reckitt Benckiser (Austrawia) Pty Limited) – more dan a century after Joseph set saiw from Engwand.

Reckitt & Cowman Austrawia had wong been de manufacturers of a different product – Keen's Mustard.